Football Game Preview: Parkland Matadors vs. Americas Trail Blazers

Two dominant backs in Carter Perez and Camron Johnson are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. After each having a week off, the Parkland Matadors and the Americas Trail Blazers will shake off the rust and duke it out at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

It's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 78-35, which was the final score in Parkland's tilt against El Dorado last Friday. While losing is never fun, the Matadors can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 745th, while the Aztecs are ranked 298th).

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Americas). They simply couldn't be stopped last Friday as they easily beat Bel Air 62-0. The victory continues a trend for the Trail Blazers in their matchups with the Highlanders: they've now won three in a row.

Americas' win came from a few key players Parkland will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Maurice Edwards, who picked up 69 receiving yards and one TD, and also rushed for 67 yards and one touchdown. He showed off some serious burst, connecting on a big catch for 69 yards. Joaquin Hernandez was another key player, rushing for 55 yards and a pair of scores on only seven carries.

Americas was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 372 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 192 rushing yards in four consecutive games.

Americas now has a winning record of 4-3. As for Parkland, their defeat was their fifth straight on the road dating back to last season, which dropped their record down to 2-5.

Parkland lost to Americas at home by a decisive 35-16 margin when the teams last played back in September. Will the Matadors have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other football content.